Summary for chapter 5

It is the seventeenth day, October 29, since they have been surviving in the Andes. They come up with a plan to take some of the fittest people from the group and send them out on expeditionaries to master their location and what is nearby. Like everyday, they go to the plane and sleep but while they are asleep, they suddenly feel a vibration and hear metal falling to the ground. Before they know it, an avalanche has fallen on them. The snow is so deep that it feels like they can’t breathe with it on top of them. Roy Harley who is also buried, remembers that Carlitos Páez is next to him so he digs Páez out.. He digs in the snow to rescue people but he is too late. The snow is too heavy so many people died by suffocating. After the avalanche, nineteen are alive. They don’t eat anything that day since they were covered with snow for several hours and don’t have the energy to eat. The next day, October 31, it is Carlitos’ birthday. They had a “feast” by eating cold and raw meat. They couldn’t even cook it or let it dry in the sun because of all the snow. They are all cold and miserable. The day after that which is November 1, it is Pancho Delegado’s birthday but they can’t do anything to celebrate. All of them either drink melted snow for water or smoke a cigarette thinking about their family. All they can really do is wait for rescue. The team decides the expeditionaries to be Canessa, Parrado, Turcatti, and Vizintín. They set out at eleven o’clock in the morning and it has been a week since the avalanche attack. They are planning to leave on November 15th but one of the expeditionaries gets injured so three leave on the 17th. They go down the valley of the Andes mountain but that night, almost freeze to death. They decide to go back and on their way, collects supplies from the tail.